Distribution head of agricultural device

Abstract

A distributor head of a distribution agricultural device comprises an outer hoop provided with at least four outlets of the same size, arranged evenly along the circumference of the outer hoop, a movably positioned ring, a main inlet, and a driving mechanism connected with the ring through a ring attachment, wherein the ring is provided with a number of evenly arranged openings of the same size, number of which corresponds to half of the number of outlets. The ring can be in three operating positions, wherein in the first position, the ring is located in the same plane as the outer hoop and therefore covers every other outlet, in the second position it is not located in the same plane as the outer hoop and thus does not cover any outlet, and in the third position it is located in the same plane as the outer hoop and thus covers every other outlet, wherein the outlets covered in the third position are different from the outlets covered in the first position of the ring.

Claims

1. A distributor head of a distribution agricultural device comprising an outer hoop provided with at least four outlets of the same size evenly arranged along the circumference of the outer hoop, a movably positioned ring provided with a number of evenly arranged openings of the same size, number of which corresponds to half of the number of outlets, a main inlet and a driving mechanism, wherein the ring is connected to the driving mechanism through a ring attachment, wherein the ring has three operating positions, where in the first position the ring is located in the same plane as the outer hoop and the ring covers every other outlet, in the second position the ring is not located in the same plane as the outer hoop and therefore does not cover any outlet, and in the third position, different from the first position, the ring is located in the same plane as the outer hoop and covers every other outlet, wherein in the third position the ring covers different outlets than in the first position.

2. The distributor head of the distribution agricultural device according to claim 1, wherein it further comprises an inner hoop provided with at least one guiding groove.

3. The distributor head of the distribution agricultural device according to claim 2, wherein the ring is provided with at least one guiding pin movably positioned in the guiding groove.

4. The distributor head of the distribution agricultural device according to claim 1, wherein the driving mechanism comprises a star, columns and levers and the ring attachment is provided with openings, wherein the columns are inserted in the openings of the attachment.

5. The distributor head of the distribution agricultural device according to claim 1, wherein the driving mechanism is driven by at least one motor, with which it is connected by levers.

6. The distributor head of the distribution agricultural device according to claim 1 wherein the number of outlets is twelve, or twenty-four, or thirty-six, or forty-eight.

7. The distributor head of the distribution agricultural device according to claim 3 wherein the number of the guiding grooves and guiding pins is three.

8. The distributor head of the distribution agricultural device according to claim 1 wherein the ring is provided with a seal brush on the outer circumferential part.

9. The distributor head of the distribution agricultural device according to claim 3 wherein the guiding groove of an arched shape, wherein in the first operating position the guiding pin is located at the beginning of the guiding groove in the second operating position the guiding pin is located in the center of the guiding groove, and in the third operating position the guiding pin is located at the end of the guiding groove.

10. The distributor head of the distribution agricultural device according to claim 3 wherein the guiding groove is T-shaped, wherein in the first operating position the guiding pin is located at the left side of the guiding groove, in the second operating position the guiding pin is located at the top of the guiding groove, and in the third operating position the guiding pin is located at the right side of the guiding groove.

11. The distributor head of the distribution agricultural device according to claim 3 wherein the guiding groove is L-shaped, wherein in the first operating position the guiding pin is located at the beginning of the base of the guiding groove, in the second operating position the guiding pin is located at the top of the guiding groove, and in the third operating position the guiding pin is located at the end of the base of the guiding groove.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) The summary of the invention is further illustrated by examples of embodiments thereof, which are described by means of the attached drawings, where:

(2) FIG. 1 shows the distributor head of the distribution agricultural device with the ring in the second operating position, where all outlets are open,

(3) FIG. 2 shows the distributor head ring provided with evenly arranged openings of the same size, driving mechanism and the connection of the ring and the driving mechanism through the ring attachment,

(4) FIG. 3 shows the distributor head ring and the ring attachment,

(5) FIG. 4 shows the inner hoop of the distributor head provided with three guiding grooves of an arched shape,

(6) FIG. 5 shows a top view of the distributor head of the distribution agricultural device, where the driving mechanism is connected to the motor through levers,

(7) FIG. 6 shows the distributor head ring,

(8) FIG. 7 shows the distributor head of the distribution agricultural device with the ring in the third operating position, where every other outlet is covered,

(9) FIG. 8 shows the distributor head of the distribution agricultural device with the ring in the first operating position, where every other outlet is covered, wherein the covered outlets are different from the outlets covered when the ring is used in the third operating position,

(10) FIGS. 9A-C are schematic representations of the guiding groove of an arched shape showing the guiding pin position in the guiding groove for different operating positions of the ring,

(11) FIGS. 10A-C are schematic representations of the T-shaped guiding groove showing the guiding pin position in the guiding groove for different operating positions of the ring and

(12) FIGS. 11A-C are schematic representations of the L-shaped guiding groove showing the guiding pin position in the guiding groove for different operating positions of the ring.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

(13) A distributor head 1 of a distribution agricultural device 100 shown in FIGS. 1, 5, 7 and 8 comprises an outer hoop 5, an inner hoop 3, a movably positioned ring 6, a main inlet 102 and a driving mechanism 9. The outer hoop 5 is provided with an even number of outlets 2, which are of the same size and are arranged evenly along the circumference of the outer hoop 5. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a total of 24 outlets 2 are arranged evenly along the circumference of the outer hoop 5. However, the invention is not limited to this number of outlets 2; 12, 24, 36 or 48 outlets 2 are often used in practice, and the invention can be used with any of these numbers.

(14) The inner hoop 3 of the distributor head 1 of the distribution agricultural device 100 is provided with at least one guiding groove 4, see FIG. 4. In the exemplary embodiment, this guiding groove 4 is of an arched shape, where the arched shape is a portion of the circumference of a circle, ellipse, or another conic section. In an exemplary embodiment, three significant points are on the guiding groove 4, namely the beginning 4a, the center 4b and the end 4c of the guiding groove 4, see FIG. 8. In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the inner hoop 3 of the distributor head 1 is provided with exactly three guiding grooves 4. Further, a movably positioned ring 6 shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 6 is located inside the distributor head 1. The ring 6 is provided with a number of openings 7, which are arranged evenly along its circumference. In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the number of openings 7 in the ring 6 corresponds to the half of the number of outlets 2. The ring 6 is further provided with at least one guiding pin 10. In the exemplary embodiment of the invention the ring 6 is provided with exactly three guiding pins 10. Guiding pins 10 are movably positioned in the guiding grooves 4. The ring 6 is connected to a driving mechanism 9, shown in FIG. 2, through the ring 6 attachment 8. The driving mechanism 9 consists of a star 9a and columns 9b and ensures the movement of the ring 6. In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the driving mechanism 9 is driven by a motor 12 shown in FIG. 5, to which it is connected through levers 13. However, embodiment of the invention with a manual drive of the driving mechanism 9 is also possible. The ring attachment 8 is provided with openings 8a, position of which corresponds to the position of columns 9b of the driving mechanism 9 in such way that the columns 9b are located in these openings 8a.

(15) In exemplary embodiment of the invention, the ring 6 can be in three operating positions 11a, 11b and 11c shown in FIGS. 1, 7 and 8. In the first operating position 11a, shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9a, the ring 6 is in the same plane as the outer hoop 5. The guiding pin 10 is located at the beginning 4a of the guiding groove 4. In this position 11a every other outlet 2 is open, because of an overlap of the opening 7 in the ring 6 with the given outlet 2. The other outlets 2 are then covered with the ring 6. Because of this, the granulated material 103 is further distributed only within one half of the distribution agricultural device 100. In the second operating position 11b shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 9b, the guiding pin 10 is located in the center 4b of the guiding groove 4. In this position 11b the ring 6 is not located in the same plane as the outer hoop 5 and, therefore, it does not overlap with any of the outlets 2. Because of this, the granulated material 103 is distributed to all outlets 2 and thus across the whole area of the distribution agricultural device 100. In the third operating position 11c, shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8c, the ring 6 is in the same plane as the outer hoop 5. The guiding pin 10 is located at the end 4c of the guiding groove 4. In this position 11c every other outlet 2 is open, because of the overlap of the opening 7 in the ring 6 with the given outlet 2. These are different outlets 2 from those that are open in the first operating position 11a of the ring 6. The remaining outlets 2 are then covered with the ring 6. Because of this, the granulated material 103 is further distributed only within one half of the distribution agricultural device 100, different from the half used in the first operating position 11a.

(16) Other embodiments of the invention allow the use of a T-shaped guiding groove 4, see FIG. 10. In this embodiment, in the first operating position 11a the guiding pin 10 is then located at the left side 14a of the guiding groove 4, in the second operating position 11b the guiding pin 10 is located at the top 14b of the guiding groove and in the third operating position 11c the guiding pin 10 is located at the right side 14c of the guiding groove 4.

(17) Other embodiments of the invention allow the use of a L-shaped guiding groove 4, see FIG. 11. In this embodiment, in the first operating position 11a the guiding pin 10 is then located at the beginning of the base 15a of the guiding groove 4, in the second operating position 11b the guiding pin 10 is located at the top 15b of the guiding groove, and in the third operating position 11c the guiding pin 10 is located at the end of the base 15c of the guiding groove 4.

(18) Other embodiments of the invention which utilize a guiding groove 4 provided with three significant points in which the guiding pin 10 can be located in such way that in these points the ring 6 is located in individual operating positions 11a, 11b and 11c are also possible.

(19) The ring 6 is moved between the individual positions by the driving mechanism 9, which is shown in FIG. 2. The movement of the ring 6 consists of a rotation around axis thereof and of displacement in the direction of the axis. The movement of the driving mechanism 9 is a rotation around the ring 6 axis. The rotation occurs due to the levers 13, which are connected to the driving mechanism 9. The driving mechanism 9 rotation around the ring 6 axis leads to the rotation of the attachment 8 and thus to the rotation of the ring 6 around the axis thereof. The rotation of the ring 6 around its axis then leads to movement of guiding pins 10 within the guiding grooves 4. Because of the movement of guiding pins 10 in the guiding grooves 4 the ring 6 moves also vertically in the direction parallel to the axis thereof. Together with the ring 6 the attachment 8 also moves vertically in such way that its openings 8a move within columns 9b of the driving mechanism 9.

(20) In the case of L-shaped or T-shaped guiding groove 4, the driving mechanism 9 can be driven by two motors, where one motor ensures vertical displacement in the guiding groove 4 and the other motor ensures horizontal displacement in the guiding groove 4.

(21) In exemplary embodiment of the invention, it is possible to extend the beginning 4a and the end 4c of the guiding groove 4, which results in better stability.

(22) The distribution agricultural device 100 does not necessarily have to utilize just one distributor head 1 to divide the processed area into halves. The number of distributor heads 1 of the distribution agricultural device 100 may be higher, thereby providing a higher possibility to change the extent of the processed area.

(23) The ring 6 can be, on its outer circumferential part, provided with a brush, which, when the ring 6 moves between its operating positions 11a, 11b and 11c cleans the area of the inner hoop 3 from dirt and provides more fluent movement of the ring.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

(24) The device according to this invention can be used for agricultural devices that use distributor heads for distributing granulated material, e.g. seeds, fertilizer, etc.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(25) 1distributor head 2outlet 3inner hoop 4guiding groove 4abeginning of the guiding groove 4bcenter of the guiding groove 4cend of the guiding groove 5outer hoop 6ring 7opening in the ring 8ring attachment 8aattachment openings 9driving mechanism 9astar 9bcolumn 10guiding pin 11a first position of the ring 11b second position of the ring 11cthird position of the ring 12motor 13levers 14aleft side of the guiding groove 14btop of the guiding groove 14cright side of the guiding groove 15abeginning of the base of the guiding groove 15btop of the guiding groove 15cend of the base of the guiding groove 100distribution agricultural device (not shown) 101main inlet (not shown) 102granulated material (not shown)